


Maybe With Steve

by buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (hutchabelle)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Boys In Love, Bucky Barnes After Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Flash Bingo, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes Remembers, Bucky Barnes in Bucharest, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Bucky Barnes's Plums, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Captain America Steve Rogers, Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Celebrations, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Cryofreeze (Marvel), Domestic Avengers, Domestic Bliss, Family, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Happy Ending, Home, Hurt Bucky Barnes, Loneliness, Love, M/M, Memories, Memory Loss, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Canon Compliant, POV Bucky Barnes, Party, Pet Names, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Protectiveness, Recovered Memories, Recovery, Repressed Memories, Returning Home, Reunion Sex, Reunions, Romanian Bucky Barnes, Sad, Sex, Sharing a Bed, True Love, Wakanda (Marvel), Wakandan Technology (Marvel), Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:02:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29626746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hutchabelle/pseuds/buckybarnesdeservestobehappy
Summary: The Asset doesn’t remember much, but he finds himself in Bucharest and makes a home for himself there. When his childhood friend finds him there, Bucky wonders if he can find a new place where he’s accepted.
Relationships: Avengers Team & James "Bucky" Barnes, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 43
Kudos: 60
Collections: BBB Special Events





	1. Bucharest

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Maybe With Steve  
> Collaborator: buckybarnesdeservestobehappy  
> Card Number: 3  
> Link: [tumblr](https://buckybarnesdeservestobehappy.tumblr.com/post/643800719333507072/maybe-with-steve)  
> Square Filled: Bucharest  
> Ship: Bucky/Steve  
> Rating: Teen  
> Major Tags: Winter Soldier, Memory Loss, Recovery, Bucky Barnes in Bucharest, Captain America: Winter Soldier compliant  
> Summary: The Asset doesn’t remember much, but he finds himself in Bucharest and makes a home for himself there. When his childhood friend finds him there, Bucky wonders if he can find a new place where he’s accepted.
> 
> NOTE: There are references to canon-compliant blood, injury, and violence in this story. However, I don't believe the descriptions are graphic and warrant the archive warning. Please heed the warning and tags.

He doesn’t know why he’s in Bucharest at first. It takes weeks, months, before he has any semblance of a sane thought. The last thing he remembers is fighting on a helicarrier, the world exploding around him, when his opponent spoke words that dug into his soul.

“Then finish it. ’Cuz I’m with you till the end of the line.”

That’s what he’d said. A couple of hundred pounds of solid muscle, blue eyes, and a mouth that delivered those words. They tugged at him somehow, and when he’d fallen into the Potomac, the Asset plunged in after him, pulled him from the murky waters, and dragged him to the shore. He’d bested his opponent by then. The man lay on his back as water trickled from his lips and his chest began moving as his lungs worked air in and out. Pain radiated from his own dislocated shoulder, and he turned tail and sought refuge. He needed to get to safety, but nowhere really was.

Things got foggy after that. He’d put his shoulder back in socket and babied it for a few days before slipping into the Smithsonian to see if what the man had told him was accurate. It was easy enough to get past security, and he wandered the exhibit. His body stopped in front of the image of Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers’ best friend and sidekick to Captain America. He saw some of himself in the image, but his head hurts when he thinks about it now. He’d left the museum before he broke down in public. His training taught him that.

Stay in control. Don’t panic. Always eradicate the target. No evidence is best. Aim for the head. Change the world.

He wakes with nightmares, screaming at the image of frozen tundra and blood and flees. He’s in Romania and somehow knows the language. He hits a safe house he doesn’t understand how he knows about and takes enough money to rent a crappy apartment where no one will look for him. He lays low, stays out of trouble, and keeps the demons at bay by filling notebooks and reading everything he can about Steve—whoever that is.

The floor’s hard, and he huddles there in a sleeping bag to ward off the cold for weeks, screaming at the nightmares and waking in cold sweats. Eventually, he finds a mattress and drags it up a dozen flights of stairs. It’s not much, but it’s home—a least for now. He walks the streets, trying food, discovering scenic views that make his heart ache. That’s how he knows he has one, because it’s broken and lonely and scared after being frozen for decades.

When the flashbacks start, he jolts awake in terror at the images in his head. Broken bodies, death, blood, murdered men and women with hollow eyes that mock him as he wrestles with the horror that he did that. The Winter Soldier is a monster. He can’t be both the Asset and Sergeant Barnes, Captain America’s childhood friend, at the same time. It’s not possible, but his fractured mind tells him otherwise.

He tries to make amends. When he finds himself with a few extra pennies, he helps those less fortunate than himself as long as he can do it without being seen. He doesn’t need anyone to be able to identify him on the off chance someone comes looking for him. He develops an imaginary friendship with the homeless man who lives in the alley by his building. Bucky calls him James and decides he has a fondness for plums. Bucky’s buying him some when news of the attack in Austria comes, and he scurries home with a feeling of doom hanging over his shoulders.

Someone’s there when he climbs the stairs. His training kicks in without him even realizing, and he slinks inside without a sound to find a man standing in front of his icebox. His stance is inexplicably familiar, and the sound of his voice punches Bucky straight in the gut. It’s so familiar as it rumbles from the man who he swears he doesn’t know. He only read about him in a museum.

When he turns and looks at him, the Winter Soldier freezes, but Bucky’s drawn to the familiar body. Torn in two, he tries to stay calm, but there’s danger. The man inside his place is Steve, he realizes, like that’s something his subconscious automatically knows. He yearns for contact, but a fight starts before he can work out what that means. He’s fighting for his life, desperate to stay out of the clutches of whatever organization wants to control him. He can’t let that happen again. He can’t allow himself to be used as a weapon anymore.

He panics when he’s captured, but he doesn’t let them see it. His exterior is calm, bored even as they take him into custody. Captain America—Steve—is still there. That comforts him somehow. They’re supposed to be together. He’s not sure how he knows that, but it’s true. He loses his backpack. They drag him out of Romania, and he cries a little inside. He’s lost his home, but maybe with Steve there he’s found it again.


	2. Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky Barnes doesn’t understand everything, but he knows he wants to be better. Fighting alongside Steve is what finally gives him the courage to heal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Maybe With Steve  
> Collaborator: buckybarnesdeservestobehappy  
> Card Number: 3  
> Link: [tumblr](https://buckybarnesdeservestobehappy.tumblr.com/post/644047390031200256/maybe-with-steve-chapter-2)  
> Square Filled: Red  
> Ship: Bucky/Steve  
> Rating: Teen  
> Major Tags: Winter Soldier, Memory Loss, Recovery, Captain America: Civil War compliant, Protective Steve Rogers  
> Summary: Bucky Barnes doesn’t understand everything, but he knows he wants to be better. Fighting alongside Steve is what finally gives him the courage to heal.

He wakes to a flash of pain and his arm draped in a dark red Henley caught in a vise. With a groan, he blinks open his eyes and raises his head to see metal on metal. Panic overwhelms him until he hears a name that makes his heart hurt.

“Steve.”

And then he’s there, that little guy from Brooklyn that factored into every aspect of his childhood. His best friend. His teammate. The person who knew him better than he knew himself. He’s not so little anymore. This Steve Rogers is hulking and haunted and looming over him, demanding to know which version of Bucky is conscious. Steve knows both the real and tortured versions, and Bucky longs to prove he’s not completely ruined.

“Your mom’s name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes.”

He’s not sure why those statements are what pour from his lips, but Steve seems pleased. The small smile that plays over his mouth makes Bucky squirm with happiness. He’s been the source of his best friend’s pain so many times, it feels good to see those blue eyes light up with relief and something akin to joy. There’s no need to baby him. Steve’s always been a hundred times more stubborn and resilient than anyone Bucky knows, but still… There’s something about Steve’s pleasure that makes Bucky glow.

He hates the fight at the airport, despises that others sacrifice themselves and their freedom for him, but then he’s alone with Steve on a twinjet, and they finally have a chance to talk—just the two of them—and it’s as if the last seven decades never happened. Bucky’s still not sure he’s worth anything Steve goes through for him, but their bond has always been unbreakable. Bucky doesn’t remember everything, but he does understand the devotion they’ve always had to each other. It rescued him in Azzano and brought him back to life on the helicarrier. It’ll save him again and again, he’s sure.

Steve protects him in Siberia, too, with his fists and shield and words and body. He looks down at what’s left of his arm, the metal one, and sees the red star. It’s broken, shattered, just like him. He deserves it, he knows, for what he did, all of it, even when he wasn’t aware of who he was or that he should have had a choice. He won’t miss it, the appendage that made him a weapon, but he knows he’s deadly even without it. They turned him into a monster.

By the time they get to Wakanda, he’s passed out from the pain. Nerve receptors twinge and cause him to jerk what’s no longer there. Steve’s inconsolable, but Bucky’s quiet, positive that he’s finally getting what he deserves. He’s so dirty he’ll soil the bright white lab where he’s taken so they can stabilize him. In and out of pain, he suggests going back under. He hates the cold, but he despises being broken more.

Steve tries to talk him out of it. He’s exhausted, red-rimmed eyes over an aristocratic nose and pink lips that remind Bucky of home. Watermelon juice running down his chin, crisp apples, the Cyclone, blood on Steve’s knuckles, Peggy’s dress, the star on his shoulder, the shirt he wore when Steve found him in Bucharest, the book with those ten Russian words…

He’s falling again, but this time there’s no screaming. Steve won’t let go.

Bucky sleeps.


	3. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky’s awake, but when he sleeps, images assail him. These aren’t childhood memories. These are more intense, more private, and decidedly more erotic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Maybe With Steve  
> Collaborator: buckybarnesdeservestobehappy  
> Card Number: 3  
> Link: [tumblr](https://buckybarnesdeservestobehappy.tumblr.com/post/644117225202171904/maybe-with-steve-chapter-3)  
> Square Filled: Memories  
> Ship: Bucky/Steve  
> Rating: Mature  
> Major Tags: Bucky Barnes Recovering, Memory Loss, Wakanda, Canon Divergent, Shared Bed  
> Summary: Bucky’s awake, but when he sleeps, images assail him. These aren’t childhood memories. These are more intense, more private, and decidedly more erotic.

He should be cold. He should be, but he’s not. It’s not possible with what’s happening.

Memories flood through him and not just the kind that allows him to remember his public life. There are incredibly private images, too. Tongues and lips and mouths and hands and bare skin and iron and heat and something deep inside him and his head thrown back and something pooling in his gut and begging and answered grunts and flying and—

He’s aware of a blinding light as the cryogenic capsule finishes its cycle and slides open. Air hits him, and he’s suddenly freezing, the memories slipping through icy fingers to vanish in his subconscious. He wants them back, but there’s bustling around him. Doctors poke and prod and ask him a million questions when all he wants is to go home. Where is his home? Where’s Steve?

He tries to remain calm, but he’s starting to panic when Shuri takes his readings and announces that’s enough for the day. She insists he needs time alone, and he almost howls at how untrue that is. He doesn’t want to be isolated anymore. He wants his old life back, one with the person who knows him best, who loves him no matter what, and maybe feels something just a little bit more, as well. Bucky craves that. After decades of solitude and pain, he wishes for comfort and arms around him and reassurances whispered in his ear.

He recovers slowly but surely. Shuri heals his mind, and he undergoes physical therapy to build up his body. He learns to live without his left arm, the stump still capped with white linen that keeps it clean and infection free. He’s been offered a replacement prosthesis, but he’s not sure he deserves it yet. He wants to contribute without it for a while, see if he’s got any of his old self—the one that was good and bright and hopeful—left in him.

Sunshine is figurative, though. It’s in the darkest hours that his dreams nudge him toward memories he can’t quite believe are real. Flashes of thick thighs and bulging muscles and washboard abs and wet kisses and heated confessions haunt his sleep until he wakes almost every night hard and needy. He resists at first, but it’s too much. After a desperate few weeks, he finally wraps his hand around his shaft and moans at the friction. Still half-asleep, he yanks and tugs and falls apart with a whisper on his lips.

“Steve…”

The realization doesn’t stop him. Instead, the memories come harder and faster, much like himself now that he’s free to explore the familiar pull of a sexual awakening. He might as well be a horny teenager in Brooklyn again for all the willpower he has to resist taking himself in hand and stroking the pain into submission. He’s insatiable, but he knows it could be better. It’s not supposed to only be done alone. It’s better with someone else, someone who loves him, someone who makes him feel like he belongs.

One morning, he’s there, grinning at him from Bucky’s doorstep and barging into the hut where Bucky’s trying to feel like he fits. His broad shoulders make the space look significantly smaller, but it’s also friendlier with two super soldiers within the walls. The hug they share lasts forever. He wants to ask, but fear stops him. It’ll happen when it should. If it happens. If he’s worthy. He’s still not sure he is.

There’s only one small pallet on the floor, but Steve doesn’t mind. He offers to bunk down outdoors to allow Bucky space, but he snorts and reminds the punk that they used to sleep in a twin bed together when they were young. Steve seems pleased Bucky remembers, and so they snuggle together, backs pressed tightly against the other night after night.

Bucky should have known it wouldn’t last. Nothing good ever has for him. A few days into Steve’s visit, Bucky wakes, pulled from sleep by the discomfort of an erection that’s only logical from the images in his mind.

“Steve,” he whimpers as he wakes, and his best friend turns to him with wide, worried eyes. Steve wraps arms around him and freezes. Bucky squirms, but that’s even worse. He’s ramrod straight and gyrating against Steve’s pelvis.

“Bucky?”

He wants to die of embarrassment, maybe he just wants to perish like he should have so many times when Hydra hurt him and SHIELD controlled his mind. He remembers the grip of fear and desperation, but it’s nothing compared to the terrified notion that Steve might not feel the same way anymore.

“Bucky,” Steve groans, and all anxiety vanishes. Bucky’s on his back, pressed down by thick planes of muscle. Steve’s mouth is on him, sucking into his neck and murmuring words Bucky never thought he would hear again. Words like “love” and “brave” and “sexy” and “mine,” and Bucky doesn’t know how to accept that they’re true.

It’s not until Steve’s inside him, thrusting and swearing and crying out in a wrecked scream that Bucky allows himself to hope this might be real and not another sensual dream. He responds tentatively, putting his hands on Steve’s back and digging his fingers into the flexing muscle moving above him.

Steve kisses him, and something wonderful blooms in his chest. Something warm and comfortable and familiar spreads out in shimmering waves of bliss. His hips move, and his breath catches in the back of his throat. He remembers this. He knows this feeling. He’s acquainted with the way they slide together.

It feels like home. Home with Steve. Home where he’s safe and loved and desired, where his body isn’t a weapon but a temple in which Steve worships. He can give pleasure and receive it equally.

He arches his neck and calls into the dark. Steve’s hands are there, cradling his face and brushing his lips over sensitive skin and reassuring him that they’re together. No one’s coming to take Bucky away from him. There’s no villain hiding in the bushes to drag them away from each other. There’s only them, only the way they move together and love each other and find their other half through space and time and death itself.

And then the world whites out around them. There’s nothing but the two of them, finally together, limp and exhausted and emptied. Bucky’s skin is slick as he clings to Steve, and strong arms wrap him tightly against a chiseled torso.

“Welcome back,” Steve whispers between gentle pecks on bruised lips.

Bucky answers, “I came home.”

Steve kisses him and then chuckles. “I think we both came.”

They dissolve into laughter, and Bucky wonders if anything’s ever been more perfect than this moment in time. He knows, without a doubt, that the answer is Steve. It always is.


	4. Alpine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since they’ve been back in New York, Steve’s away far too often for Bucky’s taste. He walks the streets to help ease his anxiety. He does it to work through his thoughts until a plaintive cry and an impending rainstorm changes all that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Maybe With Steve  
> Collaborator: buckybarnesdeservestobehappy  
> Card Number: 3  
> Link: [tumblr](https://buckybarnesdeservestobehappy.tumblr.com/post/644206121928785920/maybe-with-steve-chapter-4)  
> Square Filled: Alpine  
> Ship: Bucky/Steve  
> Rating: G  
> Major Tags: Bucky Barnes Recovering, Not Canon Compliant, Alpine, Pet Adoption, Protective Bucky Barnes  
> Summary: Since they’ve been back in New York, Steve’s away far too often for Bucky’s taste. He walks the streets to help ease his anxiety. He does it to work through his thoughts until a plaintive cry and an impending rainstorm changes all that.

The Asset is gone. At least Bucky hopes that’s the case. He’s more himself now than he’s been for ages, and Shuri assures him the trigger words are gone. He’s Bucky Barnes, Sergeant Barnes if he wants to keep his military title. The kids in Wakanda call him White Wolf, which he finds much more appealing than the Winter Soldier. Maybe if he ever has to go on a mission he’ll revive that moniker, but not without knowing Bucky’s guiding the action.

Steve’s gone more often than not, and he’s spent the past few months repairing the damage done to his friendship with Tony and making nice with the American government and the rest of the United Nations. Turning over Zemo soothed a number of ruffled feathers, and after what happened in Siberia, the bulk of the Avengers agree the Sokovia Accords just don’t work. Oversight and cooperation is needed, but not restrictions and lockdown.

When he returns to Wakanda, Bucky welcomes Steve back with open arms (and legs, if he’s being totally transparent), and they enjoy a few blissful weeks in Bucky’s hut before Steve brings up the inevitable. It’s time to go back to New York City. Bucky’s healed, the bounty on their heads is gone, and the world needs superheroes to fix problems. He’d known it was coming, but it still hurts to accept he’ll have to leave his little house and the kids and his goats if he wants to live with Steve.

There’s no question. Of course, he wants to live with Steve. He loves Steve.

Returning to New York after so many decades is a culture shock, as is living in Manhattan when he’s a guy from Brooklyn. The skyline is different from inside the island, and Bucky misses the view of the docks and East River and Brooklyn Bridge that are so familiar to him from his formative years. He works hard to be okay. He has to for his own sake as well as for the love of his life. As crazy and confusing as the twenty-first century is, Bucky’s still really thankful he can walk down the street hand in hand with the man he loves instead of sneaking around in back alleys and army tents like they did in the past.

It takes a while—not surprising for someone who’s been through as much trauma as he has. It’s hard for him to be around people, and Tony isn’t the most forgiving, not that Bucky blames him. The fact that he’s welcome in the Avengers Tower at all is evidence that Steve’s pulled a lot of strings. He avoids the others as much as possible, and he’ll admit he’s lonely when Steve’s gone.

He wanders the streets to pass the time. He’s constantly on alert, and he prevents a number of muggings and other petty crimes by flashing his menacing scowl at would-be criminals. The miles pass beneath his feet as he traverses the city, recalling what used to be on this corner and the people who lived in that building. He’d spent most of his time in his own borough when he was younger, but that doesn’t mean he has no experience with Manhattan geography or that he doesn’t walk over the bridge to his old neighborhood several times. Of course, he does.

Steve’s been gone far too long the night Bucky strolls past an alley on the Lower East Side near a garment factory one of his former girlfriends worked in back in the 1930s. It’s misting, and fog rolls in off the river. He’s tired and ready to head back to the Tower when he hears it—a plaintive cry over the drone of the city traffic. He hesitates. He’s no savior, but there’s something about it that tugs at his conscience. He peers into the gloom, and the heart that’s belonged to Steve since forever splits in two. His boyfriend will have to share.

The kitten is tiny, a wet, forlorn mass of spit and sass. She rears on her back paws and swipes at him when he bends to pick her up, but she fits in the palm of his metal hand when he finally catches her.

“You’re so tiny,” he whispers, and he laughs at how much this fur baby reminds him of a scrawny blonde kid with blue eyes and righteous anger from his youth. He cradles her to his chest and tucks his jacket around her. She blinks up at him with startled eyes before nudging her head against his shoulder. The rain comes harder as he walks north. By the time they’re back to the floor he shares with Steve, they’re shivering and soaked to the skin.

“Where’ve you been, Buck?” Steve asks from behind him, and Bucky almost comes out of his skin.

“Jesus!” he swears and holds the wriggling kitten so she won’t bolt as he turns. “I didn’t know you were back.”

Steve grins and leans in to press a kiss to his rain-soaked lips. “I am. Missed you. What have you got there?”

Bucky didn’t become the best marksman in the 107th and a master assassin without having the ability to utilize his God-given manipulation skills. In an instant, he slaps on the most innocent look in his arsenal and lifts pleading eyes to his boyfriend. Blinking, he holds out his hands and begs, “Can we keep? I love her.”

It works like a charm. Steve melts the way Bucky knew he would, and he hands her over so he can change his clothes and towel dry his hair. When he’s in comfy sweats with his damp hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, he rejoins his little family in the living room where Steve’s in a fervent conversation with the building’s AI.

“Supplies will be here in an hour,” he says as he lifts his gaze to Bucky’s.

Bucky doesn’t deserve to be this happy. There’s no way he’s been properly punished for all the harm he’s done in his very unusual and unusually long life, but he’s so thankful for what he has. Steve knows him well enough to accept the plea for something he can pamper while alone in the city and loves him enough to give it to him without question.

By the time cat litter, food, and toys appear at their door, both of them are smitten. They name her Alpine to match her snow white fur, which dries softer than velvet. As rain hammers the floor-to-ceiling windows, they cuddle on the couch, Bucky’s head on Steve’s shoulder and Alpine curled on his chest. Bucky’s purrs of contentment match the kitten’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The [Fandom Trumps Hate charity auction](https://fandomtrumpshate.tumblr.com/aboutus) ends today at 7:00 PM EST. If you're interested in having me write you a 20K-50K word or 50K+ story as a thank you for donating to a charity focused on ending hate, check out my [auction page](https://fth2021offerings.dreamwidth.org/111771.html).


	5. Found Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Living in the Avengers Tower can be a little overwhelming, especially when unexpected visits interrupt private moments with Steve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Maybe With Steve  
> Collaborator: buckybarnesdeservestobehappy  
> Card Number: 3  
> Link: [tumblr](https://buckybarnesdeservestobehappy.tumblr.com/post/644304641629290496/maybe-with-steve-chapter-5)  
> Square Filled: Found Family  
> Ship: Bucky/Steve  
> Rating: M  
> Major Tags: Bucky Barnes Recovering, Not Canon Compliant, Found Family, Forgiveness, Celebration  
> Summary: Living in the Avengers Tower can be a little overwhelming, especially when unexpected visits interrupt private moments with Steve.

Bucky’s groaning as the bed slaps against the wall. He’s sweating and swearing, full and throbbing, wanting and whole all at the same time. The darkness doesn’t stalk him anymore, at least not like it used to. He’s no longer cold all the time either. He lives with sunshine. Steve’s warm and bright and bathes the earth in his light. Bucky’s unfurling under the beams and rays, and it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

“Steve!” Bucky calls. He’s moments from climax, pinned down by his boyfriend who’s giving it to him as well as he ever has. God, he loves this man—his passion, his kindness, his nobility and devotion to justice. His body isn’t bad either. Actually, his body is amazing, and it does remarkable things to Bucky’s, as well. He’s lost track of the times he’s counted himself as lucky.

They break one right after the other; Steve following as Bucky falls apart from the sheer joy of them joining together. It just keeps getting better. Bucky’s starting to feel like the world around him is somewhat friendly instead of a trap designed to destroy him. They lie together, breathless and spent, and Bucky wonders if his heart will explode the same way he did a few minutes prior. He’s got too much. It’s too good. There’s no way he’s been lucky enough to find his soulmate alive and well and seventy-five years in the future without a catch.

That’s what he’s thinking when they both tense. There’s a click at the door and a quiet disturbance in the hallway that sounds a lot like someone shushing another who’s giggling. They’re accompanied by a lot of elbowing and jostling for position. Bucky smiles when Alpine yowls and spits. What a good guard cat.

“We can hear you,” Steve calls, and Natasha snaps at the rest of the crew.

“I told you surprising them wouldn’t work.”

“What’s going on?” Bucky asks, more confused than concerned, although he’s never happy when private time with Steve is interrupted.

Steve kisses him hard before scrambling to his feet and dragging on his discarded sweats and t-shirt. “I’ve got this. Go get cleaned up and dressed. I’m the only one who gets to see you this way.”

Bucky admires his backside, taut and juicy even in baggy sweats, before sighing and shuffling to the bathroom. He’s streaked with his own climax, and his hair is tangled over bright slate blue eyes and flushed cheeks. He looks like— Well, he looks like he just got laid really hard. His face breaks into a smile. There’s nothing quite so good as a post-dinner quickie. Except it wasn’t very quick at all.

“Buck, come on out here. The gang has something for you.”

Groaning, he swipes a washcloth over abs, twists his hair into a messy bun, and shrugs on some clothes. He doesn’t exactly look presentable, but it’s not like they haven’t seen him at his worst already. At least he doesn’t look like a brainwashed assassin anymore, and there’s no blood to be found. He emerges from the bedroom without warning, and half the team startles at his presence.

“What’s up?”

Quiet falls over the room for a moment, and then the entire group bursts into shouts. “Happy Rebirthiversary!”

Bucky simply stares at the banner, balloons, and cake that suddenly appear from nowhere before shifting wide eyes to Steve. “What’s… I don’t understand.”

Steve envelops him and kisses him on the temple. “It’s your rebirthaversary.”

“Come again?”

“Later,” Steve quips, and Bucky flushes at the innuendo. “The team wants to celebrate you, and they didn’t want to wait for March 10. You’ve worked so hard at recovery, and we don’t have an anniversary. They picked today.”

Steve shrugs, but Bucky’s not quite so nonchalant. These people—some of whom he tried to murder not that long ago—want to celebrate his milestones and the work he’s done. They think he’s worthy of their time and energy and thoughtfulness, and it floors him. Bucky’s the Winter Soldier (at least when he chooses to be). He’s not going to cry. He rarely shows emotion, but he has to work hard to keep the mask on his face. Inordinately pleased, he allows his face to glow with happiness for a few moments and then retreats. He’ll examine his tender heart later. Right now, he’s got a reputation to protect. These guys will never let him live it down if he shows sentimentality toward anything other than Steve and Alpine.

The Avengers gather around him, slapping him on the back and offering congratulations. Steve makes a speech, Natasha shoves a wrapped gift at him, and Sam cuts large hunks of cake and passes them around the room. It’s humbling to be surrounded by Earth’s mightiest heroes, his childhood best friend turned lover, and his cat. It’s awe-inspiring to realize it’s all for him.

“Glad you’re here, man,” Sam says as he bumps Bucky’s shoulder during a quiet moment. “Might even move my seat up the next time we’re in a car together.”

Bucky laughs, but he can’t let the birdman win. “You won’t have to.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because I’ll be in the front seat next time.”

“Says who?”

“My boyfriend. Nobody puts Bucky in the backseat.”

“I did not agree to this,” Sam protests.

“No, but you’ve got to admit that’s a pretty decent movie quote.”

“Steve still working through that list? Trying to catch up on what he missed?”

Bucky nods. “ _Dirty Dancing_. He was all riled up at the injustice of it all.”

“He would be.”

“I tried to distract him by dancing dirty. It worked.”

Sam grimaces, but there’s no time to do more than shrug before Steve’s behind him, his strong arms wrapping around Bucky’s waist and his chin perched on Bucky’s shoulder. Sam wisely crosses to chat with Rhodey before Steve smacks a wet kiss onto his left jaw.

“Dysfunctional,” he says. “All of them.”

“They aren’t so bad,” Bucky answers and snuggles into the embrace.

“You know how I always wanted a big family?”

Bucky nods and looks around the room. “Found one, huh?”

“I did. I love it, and I love you.”

Bucky can’t answer. His throat’s too tight, but he wraps his hand around Steve’s forearm to ground himself. Maybe those years alone were his punishment. Maybe with Steve he’s finally saved.


End file.
